Railway suspends four over Sonar Bangla Express train accident

A probe committee formed over the incident has been asked to submit a report in three days

The railway authorities have suspended four officials, including a guard and a locomaster, after the Sonar Bangla Express train hit a freight train near Cumilla’s Hasanpur Railway Station.

Bangladesh Railway formed a four-strong investigation committee, led by Tareque Mohammad Imran, a divisional traffic officer of Bangladesh Railway, to find the cause of the accident. The committee has been told to submit the report on the incident in three days.

Several compartments of the Dhaka-bound passenger train from Chattogram derailed after it hit the freight train from behind at Hasanpur Railway Station in Nangalkot around 6:30 pm on Sunday.

Nearly 50 people were injured in the accident.

“The high-speed Sonar Bangla Express train mistakenly entered the loop line instead of the main line due to a ‘wrong’ signal. The train hit a freight train and five of its compartments were derailed.”

The incident brought train service from Dhaka and Sylhet to Chattogram, Noakhali and Chandpur to a halt for two and a half hours.

Abdul Quader, a guard at Sonar Bangla Express, Md Jashim Uddin, locomaster, Md Mohsin, assistant locomaster, and Wahid, the signal maintainer at Hasanpur Station, have been temporarily suspended, the railway said in a statement.

The authorities asked the probe committee led by Chattogram Divisional Transport Officer Tareque Mohammad Imran to submit their report in three working days.

The Sonar Bangla Express on the Dhaka-Chattogram route will not operate on Monday and Tuesday due to repair work after the accident, the Ministry of Railways said in a statement.

The train service is expected to resume at 8 am on Wednesday.

Passengers who have already booked tickets online can apply for a refund, the ministry said.